Autumn Rain, With Noodles
by Elin B
Summary: In which Nami is in a bad mood, but things get better. A Strawhats snapshot.


Author's notes: Nothing much to say about this one. It's set post-timeskip somewhere in the New World, so since they're still at Fishman Island at the time I write this, it's quite possible this fic won't fit well with canon eventually. - Note particularly that the bit about Nami's weather abilities is sheer speculation on my part, here.

DISCLAIMER: The characters and situations of _One Piece _belong to their creator, the truly amazing Eiichiro Oda. They are used here without permission for entertainment purposes only. This fic is not to be used for profit of any kind.

Autumn Rain, With Noodles

A One Piece fic

by Elin B

It was still raining when Nami returned from her shopping-trip in a gloomy mood, a bedraggled Chopper and a grumpy-looking Zoro in tow.

She'd been looking forward to landing here after weeks on the open sea. But she hadn't counted on this cold, nasty, spiky, wind-swept autumn rain on an autumn island, a rain which had apparently lasted for ten days as well, which was probably why all the townsfolk seemed so downcast and disagreeable.

Unless they simply were like that anyway. They certainly weren't very welcoming, the locals; as far as Nami could tell, they weren't so much _fearful_ of the Strawhats as just suspicious and disapproving of odd-looking strangers in general. A tight-fisted, narrow-minded, sour-faced bunch, in Nami's opinion, having walked around in the town for hours now – and they didn't even know how to gamble properly. No-one wanted to play for high stakes or even medium stakes in the pub on the waterfront. As she walked out in disgust with the package-laden Chopper, Zoro followed her, muttering that the booze just didn't taste good in there.

"Maybe it will taste better on board," said Nami listlessly, and they both bought a few new bottles

and a barrel of rum anyway.

"You can't do something about this?" asked Zoro, pointing with his thumb at the gray sky and the rain that came down at a steep angle. Chopper looked up at her hopefully.

Well, when the tough, resilient, the-elements-are-there-to-help-me-train Zoro asked for something like that, you knew it was a truly annoying kind of rain, thought Nami. Unfortunately, that didn't change her answer.

"I could, for maybe five minutes," she said with a morose shrug. "More than that and it will be total chaos in this whole part of the sea, _and_ exhaust me, _and_ be a waste of weather balls. Plus, I'm not counting on these locals being grateful - they might never let us go, you know. Hardly seems worth the bother, either way." She sighed, then shivered from the cold. So much for being a Weather Witch.

The worst part was that the crew would have to stay at least four days more, so that the log pose could load. That left plenty of time for Luffy and the other idiots to get into serious trouble, she reflected as they got back on the ship and she helped Chopper unload the packages.

It was warm and dry in the galley. And it smelled deliciously of noodles and freshly baked bread. Nami stopped by the door, breathing in with pleasure.

"I thought I'd make noodle soup since we haven't had it for quite some time now," Sanji said with an adoring grin from over by the stove, while Luffy, Brook and Usopp were sitting by the table and drinking hot cocoa. Sanji quickly handed over a steaming hot cup of the same to her. "I know it's simple fare," he continued, "but somehow it just felt right."

"It smells wonderful; I'm sure it will be great," she assured him as she took a seat. She drank from the cup and felt herself slowly get warmer. Next to her, the boys were comparing souvenirs and swapping rain stories. Luffy and Usopp had just started to tell Brook about Alabasta and dance powder when Chopper and Zoro came in. Chopper got more hot cocoa from the cook, while Zoro got a snarky remark on idiots who weren't smart enough to come in from the rain, which resulted in shouting and a scuffle.

Nami leaned back and closed her eyes. Actually, noodles felt more right to Nami than Sanji could know. It was just what Bellemere used to cook on rainy days like this one. She and Nojiko would sit with their knees curled up, maybe a blanket if it was extra cold, loudly slurping down noodles while the rain kept tapping on the roof and their windows.

She munched on a slice of fresh bread, spread with butter and cucumber, and watched as Chopper got drawn into the Alabasta retelling and then a silly game of some sort. Meanwhile, a sneezing Zoro had somehow magically wound up with a mug of hot brandy, without any apparent giving or receiving having taken place.

Robin and Franky arrived next, the last to come back. Robin had found several books and had kept herself dry and elegant under her black umbrella, but Franky was just as grumpy as Nami had been, muttering of bad circuits and water damage. He hadn't found all the cola or spare parts he'd wanted to get before they sat sail next. But when Nami reminded him they'd be here for four more days, he actually brightened.

"Then I could go to the town on the other side of the island tomorrow," he explained, grabbing two more slices of bread as he talked. "Maybe there are better shops there."

"I'll go with you. I want to do more shopping, too," Nami said impulsively. Then she wondered if that was so wise; it might well rain down just as hard tomorrow. But Robin and Usopp both chimed in to say they wanted to come along, too.

Sanji looked at her in surprise as Nami got up from the table and moved towards the door. "Nami, my sweet...? The food will be ready in two minutes. Anything wrong?" he asked with concern.

Nami shook her head and grabbed a bucket. "I'll be back by then. Just realised there's something missing. You'll see." She smiled mysteriously, then slipped out.

Then she was climbing up the ladder to the Third Deck, careful not to slip on the wet rings. A few more steps and she'd reached her goal, all three of them hanging full of ripe fruit. Lucky, that – because the one thing that was missing from a proper noodles-in-the-rain dinner was tangerines, and Nami just happened to feel like bestowing at least two each to her idiotic crew (and to non-idiot Robin).

She grinned as she made her way back with the bucket, imagining the looks on their faces. (If they weren't surprised, she'd be annoyed.) No help for it, really – these people were her home now, wherever she was, so they'd better appreciate this. Or else!


End file.
